SAALBACH, Austria (Reuters) – U.S. great Lindsey Vonn said she was suffering a “bad cold or flu” but would not let sickness derail her Alpine ski world championship comeback at the age of 40 in Thursday’s Super-G.
The oldest female skier to medal at a championships, her last a downhill bronze in 2019 at age 34, posted a story on Instagram showing her wearing an inhaler mask and the words “current state…could be better”.
“I have a bad cold or flu but don’t worry, I wouldn’t let something like that prevent me from racing after everything I’ve gone through to get here,” she said in a post from the Austrian resort of Saalbach.
“I guess the competitor in me is still there.”
Vonn, an eight times world championship medallist and 2010 Olympic downhill champion, calculated it had been 2,187 days since her last championship race.
The 82 times World Cup race winner finished fourth in a Super-G race in St. Anton, Austria, last month and sixth in a downhill in the same resort.
She is due to start with bib number 30 on Thursday.
“I feel lucky to get this opportunity but also thankful that I was able to earn my way here with a body that is finally working again,” said the two times world champion before the sickness update.
“I know I still have the ability to succeed in this sport but will all the pieces of the puzzle fit together tomorrow? I don’t know.
“What I do know is this: I will give it my all, I will not take it for granted and I will have fun… and if everything doesn’t fit together tomorrow, that’s OK too. I still have 368 days to figure it out.”
Vonn has made skiing at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, which start next February, the main goal of her comeback.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
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